1. Field of Invention
The present invention is related to an apparatus for grinding tobacco leaves and other smoking material for use in cigars or cigarettes. More particularly, the present invention is related to a handheld tobacco grinder with see-through windows to allow the user to visually determine the amount of grinded tobacco produced without opening the grinder prematurely.
2. Description of Prior Art
Producing a rolled up cigar or cigarette or smoking a pipe requires tobacco that has been grinded into very small pieces from a dried tobacco leaf. The grinded tobacco is rolled into a cigar or cigarette using rolling paper so that the user may smoke it. The grinded tobacco is also suitable to be smoked with a conventional smoking pipe. Before the 1900s, dried tobacco leaves were commonly grinded down by means of the palm of the hand and fingers until the pieces were small enough to be used in a cigar or cigarette. In the early 1900s, innovative devices were developed to grind tobacco and other smoking materials.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 854,384 issued in 1907 teaches a bag with two opposite faces roughened or serrated into which dried tobacco leaves may be inserted. When pressure is applied to the outer faces of the two opposite faces, the dried tobacco leaves may be ground to a fine condition suitable for smoking.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,304,363 teaches a tobacco grinder with a top and bottom half that come together to form an internal cavity having a grinding shaft. As the top half is rotated relative to the lower half, the grinding shaft is rotated to grind the dried tobacco leaves placed within the housing. After the tobacco is ground, it is passed through the holes of a sieve into a cap where it is held until the user is ready to smoke it.
Today, the most widely used tobacco grinder design is one with three cavities, a top cap, and a bottom cap. The top half of the first cavity is formed by the top cap. A plurality of grinding knives protrudes from the top cap. The bottom half of the first cavity also has a plurality of grinding knives and several large holes that lead into the second cavity. The second cavity has a screen that leads into the third cavity. The bottom half of the third cavity is formed by the bottom cap of the grinder.
A dried tobacco leaf is placed inside the first cavity. The top cap is then rotated relative to the rest of the grinder allowing the grinding knives to cut the tobacco into smaller pieces. The smaller tobacco pieces are then passed through the large holes into the second cavity and then through the screen into the third cavity. The pieces in the second cavity can then be directed back to the first cavity for further grinding. The ground tobacco in the third cavity is collected in the bottom cap which is removed by the user when ready to smoke it.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,422,170 was issued in 2008 and teaches a tobacco grinder that is very similar to the popular tobacco grinder used today and described above except that the grinding knives protrude from two separate grinding plates that are separate and independent parts that are removable from the rest of the grinder. This configuration allows the grinding plates, thus the grinding knives, to be manufactured separately and of different material as the rest of the grinder so as to reduce the cost of manufacturing. Otherwise, the grinder taught in the '170 patent is the same as today's popular grinder described above.
A major disadvantage of today's popular tobacco grinder and the grinder taught in the '170 patent is that the interior of the third cavity is not visible at all to the user without removing the bottom cap. The grinded tobacco that is ready for use is ultimately collected in the third cavity. Without removing the bottom cap, the user is unable to determine the amount of grinded tobacco that has been produced. Users are forced to repeatedly remove the bottom cap to decide whether more grinding of tobacco is required. Often, users become proficient at estimating based on the amount of tobacco leaves placed in the first cavity.
Unless this and other practical problems associated with tobacco grinders are resolved, tobacco smokers will continue to blindly estimate the amount of tobacco that has been grinded.